The present invention relates to an improved industrial drum-style vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the invention relates to a filter shaking mechanism for the industrial drum-style vacuum cleaner that extends the vacuuming time before maintenance of the filter has to be performed.
Industrial drum-style vacuum cleaners are very common in manufacturing and processing plants, as well as in workshops of many industries and businesses. Typically, the drum-style vacuum cleaner includes a steel drum with a removable top or lid. The lid accommodates a motor, placed on top of the lid, most likely, a carbon-brush type vacuum motor, such as a single or twin jet venturi suction motor. The debris/dust particles mixed into air that are suctioned up by the motor are separated from the air by a dust filter and the cleaned air escapes back into the environment, while the debris/dust particles are retained in the drum. The dust filter is clamped just below the motor to the bottom of the lid. The steel drum, most typically, is a 30 or a 55-gallon steel drum, rests on a dolly equipped with swivel casters, easily moveable to a cleanup site.
Depending on the environment in which the vacuum cleaner is used and the specific environmental considerations that need to be observed, different filters are utilized. Often, powder particles have a size between 5 to 10 microns. Filters, such as Teflon filters, were developed to capture and trap particles of 1 micron. However, such fine particles or even more common powdered materials that are vacuumed up from cleanup sites, accumulate on the filter and clog the filter material to such degree that the suction power is reduced, causing the motor(s) to overheat. The vacuuming has to be interrupted so that the filter can be changed. Interrupting the vacuuming process in order to clean or change the filter, is time consuming. Most often, the vacuum cleaner has to be removed from the clean-up site in order to reduce the amount of air bound dirt particles that are released upon opening of the drum. One method to provide a quick remedy for cleaning clogged filters is to equip the vacuum cleaner with a manual pulse-jet cleaning system which provides a quick blast of compressed air through the filter so that any accumulated material on the filter is dislodged. Although the speed and efficiency of the pulse-jet eliminates the need for the vacuum operator to stop working and manually clean or change the vacuum's filter, it is also rather costly to equip each model with a pulse-jet cleaning system.